Anyone now unexpectedly hosting dinner?

[foodtoorder]

So it's been confirmed that we can create the bubbles at Christmas.

Although it seemed likely that there would be some mixing at Christmas I didn't really anticipate that up to three house holds could mix. As such we had planned a small Christmas fairly much on our own although with my df having dinner with us.

My in laws (2 adults 1 9year old)live half a days drive away and they've seen no one all year family wise all year so would be great for them and us to have them stay.

So wether you agree with it or not covid wise I need some help with ideas for hosting guests for 2-3 nights.

We have a guest room but it never really gets used, home office in the corner of the room which is easily packed away but what do I need to put in to make it a pleasant stay?

Some ideas for fun family games for all 4-5 adults and 3 children 3-9years old? We do play the oven mit game so something just as fun/silly would be great.

Luckily my in laws just generally muck in when all together so it's not necessarily about "hosting" however they are great hosts whenever we have stayed with them and I would love to return the favour.

Any help for a novice would be much appreciated!

Off to Google oven mitt game..xx

Is the oven mitt game the chocolate bar game? The only where you have to put on hat scarf and gloves and eat a chocolate bar? We call it trip to Mars.

misses the point of thread

If that's not the oven mitt game then play that! Works well with smarties and chopsticks if kids are older!

Oven mit game is...

A present wrapped very well in layers with tape.
You put on some fancy dress- say Santa hat, sunglasses, tutu and oven mits. And start trying to unwrap the present.
Player next to you has dice and needs to roll a 6 to get a chance to try and unwrap the present but has to put on the fancy dress first while the player next to them has to roll a 6 and so on

Hope that makes sense

How lovely that you are embracing the change in plan with such enthusiasm. Lucky guests to have a host who wants to make things special for them.

I have family to stay fairly often (not this year sadly - all in ireland) but I would say the main thing would be to plan meals well ahead. It's always the hardest bit, coming up with ideas of what to have for each meal. If you can cook and freeze ahead, all the better.

As for the room, a clean, well ironed bed with some flowers on the side in a tidy room will more than suffice. Make sure there are some spare hangers in the wardrobe or a drawer for putting things away. A couple of magazines in the room are nice.

As for games, If you can get hold of a kazoo, you can come up with a tailored list of songs (separate ones by age group maybe) in a name that tune game which is fun. We've played this interspersed with charades and name five things for a group of 10 from 4 to 70 and it worked really well (too well - it went on for hours). Jenga works well for mixed ages too.

I hope you have a lovely time.

Things that are really handy in a guest room:

Some kind of lamp by the bed so you don't have to switch the main light off then stumble around in the dark in an unfamiliar space. Doesn't have to be fancy, desk lamp is fine

Bin, so you don't have to ferry all rubbish out to a bin in a different room

Box of tissues

Bottle of water

Agree you have a lovely attitude.

Phone charger or extension cable is good.

If you have the summer duvet on the spare bed maybe an extra blanket? My ILs do this but we are freezing and I have to steal a blanket from elsewhere.

Decent sized towels- I'd rather be given a beach towel than fancier small ones that don't cover my body.

Game wise, mince pie eating contest with hands behind your back?

Meal plan some easy meals, work out what you can pre buy / freeze / order ready made. E.g., I've bought homemade gravy from Cook (fingers crossed it's okay!) to save that last minute swearing rush at the hob, yesterday I made cheese sauce and froze it, also making bread sauce and cranberry sauce in advance. One day we're having jacket potatoes, another is leftovers etc.

What about traditional games like charades? Hope you have a great time!

We’ve hosted Christmas a few times recently and I find it quite helpful to let people know what we’re buying and that if they have something that makes it Christmas for them that they’re welcome to bring it (like special cheese or baileys or whatever). I’ve also found that asking people to bring Christmas breakfast or pudding for Christmas Day reduces the load although some people aren’t keen on asking that.
We’ve found that the logo game is really good across the ages, also the 5 second game, and I’m getting my 3 year old pop up pirate and hungry hippos as she can play that with adults or children.
I would have to admit that I probably do none of the suggested things for our guest room apart from the lamp and a mirror of some kind for the guest room

Guest room threads on here have been quite bonkers in the past, some people literally suggest basically installing the contents of a studio flat into the spare room, complete with mini fridge for milk and bottled water and a kettle with mugs and spoons on a tray so they don’t have to walk down to someone else’s kitchen to make a cup of tea
As long as it’s clean and has one spare plug socket, I can cope for a few days!

What a totally refreshing thread - no moaning about in laws, just a host excited about making a nice Christmas for the whole family and being considerate of their guests along the way. I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas!

The dice game is fun, it’s known by another name but I’ve gone blank

Anyway, buy two large sponge dice (Amazon have them, very cheap). Ask each guest to bring a cheap, wrapped present with them, under a tenner or even a fiver, can be silly, can be something useful or edible. You do the same.

Everyone sits in a circle with all the presents in the middle and takes turns throwing the dice. When you score a double (of anything) you get to choose a present in the middle and unwrap it. You can also take a present from someone if you get a double and like the look of it.

All this is done with a timer ticking ... say 10/15 min depending on how big the group ... it gets quite frantic towards the end ... last year everyone was desperate for the scratch card, good fun

I’m probably a lot more covid conscious than most because of the risk profile of myself and our potential guests so these things might not apply as much. But I’ll throw them out anyway.

I’ve been thinking about ventilation and balancing the needs for warmth. We have a back garden we can use as a sitting space, so I’m thinking about how to make that comfortable. Remembering to air out the top of the house during the daytime, and airing rooms when we’re not in them, and moving about from one to another rather than staying in one spot all the time. I’m thinking of borrowing a burco to be able to provide hot water bottles for anyone sitting in the garden.

I think hot whiskeys, mulled wine and spiced warm apple juice will be welcome. Hot chocolate too.

Normally I encourage self service, have shared starters and dips but I’m planning to plate up and do less passing and sharing of dishes.

I’ve been thinking of nice places to walk to get outdoors (it would need to be flat, even ground for one of my guests).

In terms of guest rooms, I always appreciate space to hang some clothes and spare hangers (often spare wardrobes are jammed with out of season clothes), a wastepaper basket, bottles of water (or a glass of water), bedside lamp and the WiFi code.

What a nice thread! OP, hope you have a lovely Christmas 🎄. We love Dobble, great card game for all ages.

Thank you for all these lovely thoughts.
Game ideas are brilliant and will be tested out.

My husband thinks I am giving it too much thought. I just want them to be comfortable and hopefully happy to come back!